Soft Fruit in Season

Soft Fruit in Season. I’m Greg Martin with today’s Fruit Grower Report.

Harvest time is here and with it some fantastic soft fruit. The quality is good and according to BJ Thurlby with Washington State Fruit Commission, we are looking at good numbers as well.

THURLBY: It looks like it was almost a 7000 ton apricot crop which makes it a record and a very successful year on cots overall. Prices were fluctuating up and down throughout the season but overall we moved the crop and I think growers are going to see a profit there.

In addition to apricots there are also peaches and nectarines coming off the trees. And while we grow a lot of apples and pears in the area, soft fruit is not a main commodity per se.

THURLBY: In apricots we’re number 2 as far as state production goes but on peaches and nectarines we’re down the list quite a ways, we’re like 8 or 9. We’re at a bit of an advantage if there is such a thing in this business because we do ship truckloads of apples and pears all over the world and so we do have a little advantage over some production areas like a Georgia or South Carolina that’s just in the soft fruit business.

Thurlby shares a different but tasty sounding recipe.

THURLBY: I actually grilled some peaches this weekend. I bought 6 Washington peaches and cut them in half, put them on the grill with a little olive oil on them, dropped a little goat cheese in the middle and served them as hors d’oeuvres and they went bye-bye in a hurry.

They have more great recipes at wastatefruit.com.

That’s today’s Fruit Grower Report. I’m Greg Martin on the Northwest Ag Information Network.